Schumer: End partisan primaries

Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling for partisan primaries to be abolished, saying the current system engenders unhealthy political polarization.

“The partisan primary system, which favors more ideologically pure candidates, has contributed to the election of more extreme officeholders and increased political polarization,” the New York Democrat wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Monday . “It has become a menace to governing.”

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Schumer said that partisan primaries embolden “the 10 percent at each of the two extremes of the political spectrum” and pointed to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s surprise loss to Dave Brat, a political novice who ran to the right of Cantor with the support of the tea party.

He said that this was particularly problematic given the low turnout in primary elections, writing that “primaries poison the health of that system and warp its natural balance, because the vast majority of Americans don’t typically vote in primaries.”

Schumer argued that partisan primaries have had a particularly pernicious impact on the Republican Party, “where centrists and moderates are increasingly rare.”

Schumer instead called for the country to adopt a “top-two” primary system like that of California, in which all voters, regardless of party, cast ballots in a primary election. Then the top two vote-getters proceed to a general election runoff. Such a system, the senator writes, would force candidates to appeal to the broader electorate as opposed to a small segment on the ideological fringe.

The system in California, he said, has been “a moderating influence on both parties and a salutary effect on the political system and its ability to govern.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger showed his support for Schumer’s idea over Twitter The former California governor tweeted on Tuesday, “Fantastic to see @SenSchumer supporting top-two primary. Let’s get it done & break up the status quo of gridlock” with a link to the op-ed.